Pages

Wednesday, 28 March 2012

Edvard Munch's painting Scream is one of the most famous paintings in modern art history. Right now one version is up for sale in New York, expected to fetch $80 million or more. The painting is known in four versions.

Why do we love this picture full of horror? A man on a bridge, meeting other people but still alone in the world.

To me, the energy in the motive lies in the hands raised to his face, and in the emptiness of the gaping mouth. Of course the radiant colours also helps.

I was looking for flowers that could express the existential anxiety in the shape of grasping hands, but ended up using two tongs from my kitchen instead, a shiny metal pasta tong and a red plastic salad server similar in shape. It's like they don't belong in the mass of flowers, and jet they fit in. The emptiness of the cry is expressed by the space in between the two openings of the vase.

No comments:

Ikebana is the Japanese art of arranging flowers. More than being decorative, ikebana is thought of as a path of life or a kind of meditation.
I'm studying Ikebana with the Sogetsu school, and currently I hold a teachers certificate of Sankyu Shihan (teacher, third grade). My flower name is Senju 泉樹.
This blog is for networking and inspiration. Comments are appreciated. You can also contact me directly.
e-mail: lennart (at) nordiclotus.com
Facebooknordiclotus.com

Translate

"Ikebana is the art of space - the space between branches, the space between flowers and leaves and the space between masses. In other words, the space between the branches and flowers comes alive. This space is a plentiful void projecting tension and power."

Sofu Teshigahara

"I regard myself as a creator of shape who uses mainly flowers as his metier, rather than purely as an arranger of flowers."

Sofu Teshigahara

“Ikebana is a form of sculpture that exists only within a limited time span, transforms from moment to moment, then perishes.”